PepsiCo India in battle for breakfast

BENGALURU/NEW DELHI: Food and beverage maker PepsiCo Inc is focusing on the Indian breakfast market with the launch of a ready-to-cook range tailored to local tastes, a decade after the company brought the Quaker brand to India to sell packaged breakfast items.

PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt Ltd launched on Tuesday readyto-cook idli, dosa, upma and khichdi. The move is part of a global initiative to shift focus from ‘Fun-for-You’ products, such as carbonated beverages and snacks, to ‘Good-for-You’ and ‘Better-for-You’ brands to ensure what global CEO Indra Nooyi calls a “purpose-driven future”.

The idli, dosa, upma and khichdi, to be sold under the label Quaker Nutri Foods, were developed in collaboration with celebrity chef Vikas Khanna and can be cooked in 3-5 minutes.

“We’ve realised that to win in nutrition in India, we need to tap into local nutrition needs and offer local products which suit the palettes of the Indian consumers,” said Deepika Warrier, PepsiCo’s India vice-president for nutrition.

Towards the end of the year, the company will launch a few more products under Quaker Nutri Foods brand, based on different regional palettes.

Besides the breakfast items, PepsiCo has also introduced fortified juices under Tropicana Essentials — an extension of the popular Tropicana brand — targeted at addressing specific nutrition deficiencies.

Warrior said the new Tropicana Essentials Fruits and Veggies juice is aimed at addressing the gap in the average Indian’s fruit and vegetable consumption. The product is priced at Rs30 for a 200ml tetra pack, more expensive than its regular Tropicana juice range by Rs10.

PepsiCo had, a couple of years earlier, launched upma and poha, in what it termed “a test launch”, which did not work out.

Warrier said PepsiCo has also realised that the Indian millennial — its target for both Quaker Nutri Foods and Tropicana Essentials — wants something familiar, nutritious, freshly prepared and preferably hot when it comes to breakfast. Its aim is to make Quaker Nutri Foods a fiveday-a-week breakfast option for consumers.

Quaker had a 13.3% share (value) of the packaged breakfast market in India in 2015, up from 9.5% in 2010, according to market research agency Euromonitor International. US-based Kellogg had a 37% share of the country’s breakfast cereal market in 2015.

The breakfast cereal market in India grew 24% in 2015 to ₹1,440 crore and is estimated to touch ₹2,610 crore by 2020, according to Euromonitor.